X-Ray Information from Warren Dentist

Hi I’m Dr. Gregory Apsey in Warren, Michigan you can reach us at 586-573-7700 we’re on 13 mile between Hoover and Van Dyke. Come on over and see us sometime. Today I’d like to talk about x-rays. And there’s been of course there’s concern about not having to many and what’s the effect of radiation exposure over time.  I want to talk about how we decide how often we take them and why we do that.  When we work with our patients, when we have an initial exam with our patients that’s a time when we need a full series of x-rays. We need a full picture so that we know the condition of our patients when they begin their procedures. It just helps us to give a baseline. We know where they start. And then from there we can watch to see what’s happened. We can see, first of all, has there been a lot of decay? Have there been a lot of problems already? And if not, based on the age of the patient, we may determine right then, if it’s a 30 year old patient that’s never had a cavity, and has no problem with their gums. That may not do another X-ray for 2 years, because we feel that that patient has a good history, and they don’t need X-rays very often. But some people have decay, have problems and we need to monitor those problems, we need to watch and, and let them alert the patient when something new begins. So, the X-ray, the, the frequency of X-rays really varies from person to person and depends on the need and the condition of that person’s mouth.

If a person comes to better oral health and they are no longer developing the problems, then we will reduce the frequency that we take x rays. But usually, for a patient that is prone to tooth decay, we’re taking bite wing x rays, which is 4 films of the back teeth once every  year and then we’re taking a full set of x-rays for that similar patient once every 5 years. And the full set of x-rays will also look at the jaw bone; it is giving us information not only about the teeth but about the surrounding structures as well, the joints, the bone, the gums and so forth. There are certain critical times for young people when x-rays need to be done. For instance as the teeth are erupting, are coming into the mouth, growing into the mouth. At age 11 it’s critical that we know where the canine the pointy teeth on the corners, we need to know where they are. If they haven’t erupted into the mouth, we need to know if they’re possibly impacted or going the wrong direction. So a panorex x-ray is usually taken at age 11 if the teeth have not erupted yet. Then again, at age 16, we’re taking a Panorex x-ray to evaluate for wisdom teeth. Wisdom teeth often need to be extracted. And we want to find out the timing. We want to see how the teeth are erupting. We want to decide whether they need to come out or not, and how they’re affecting the surrounding teeth.

Well basically, we do try to minimize the number or x-rays we take, but we also want to take the minimum number, so we can advise our patients about what’s best for them. And of course, we’re now using digital x-rays, so we have reduced your radiation exposure down to at least 50% less than what is was previously. So we’re trying to remain on the cutting edge of dentistry, and to offer to our patients the most effective and least troublesome types of dentistry.

So we’re trying to offer to our patients high quality care. And as, when it comes to x-rays. We want to offer to give to them the least amount of radiation necessary to collect the information that we need to serve them best. Thank you for listening.

X-Ray Information from Warren Dentists

If you would like to schedule an appointment, or to get more information contact us at (586) 573-7700.

X-Ray Information from Warren Dentist